What is exclusive about Freemasonry?

Exclusivity in Freemasonry exists both in membership structure and in jurisdictional authority. Male-only and female-only Grand Lodges practice Freemasonry in single-sex lodges, which forms an exclusive structure reflecting freedom of association while actively working together through governing bodies such as the Council for Freemasonry, as the United Grand Lodge of England notes.

In terms of territorial governance, the Grand Lodge of India maintains the exclusive privilege within its jurisdiction to consecrate new lodges, while English, Scottish, and Irish lodges in India operate solely with those lodges that opted to remain under their respective home constitutions in 1961, as an article on the Grand Lodge of India's website records.